Otis and our weather dogs are our pups of the weeks

Up here in the Northeast we complain a lot about the weather.  We complain about the rains that come across the country or up the coast line.  We kvetch about the cold air the pours in from Canada in the spring.  Then we quetch about the hot air steaming up from the South in the summer.  The truth is we rarely have a great deal of weather to complain about here.  There are some big snow storms, some inconvenient floods, but nothing that puts our lives in imminent danger.  But with the Red Sox winning we don't have much to complain about so there is always the weather.

Then there are the real weather dogs, like Otis. our pup of the week trapped in his cellar while tornado monsters roar over his head.  I have never been to a tornado monster nor do I want to go to one.  They scare the Vick out of me.  And they never land where they should, like Washington DC, where they actually could do a lot of good because there is a bunch of stuff there that needs to be sucked up and thrown away.  I am asking Otis this week, for he is quite the affable chap, to accept this award for all our friends who have been pounded by what some bipeds call Mother Nature but what I believe to be discarded vacuum cleaners reanimated.

We are thankful that Otis had a nice basement to be safe in.  Their home and property were not damaged.  But there were pups near by who had their whole houses torn away and are now all living in shelters.  Do you know how hard it is to get a fully grown slope nosed adopted after they lose their home to the tornado monsters?  We wish them the best of luck.

As Otis said there is no place better then a basement when there is a tornado.  It is where smart humans take their pups.  We no longer have a basement.  We have a skirt.  Somehow I don't think something called a skirt will give the same level of protection as a basement.  I live with dumb humans.

Bear watched over his sweet Mom from the Bridge and kept her safe from the tornado monsters but not all of us have a strong dog like Bear looking over for us who scare the monsters.

Then there are Sydney, Moose and Buddy who winter just won't leave alone.  We are late in the month of April and they are still getting snow.  While snow isn't as dangerous as the tornado monster it just wears your down mentally.  Everyone wants an endless summer but no one wants an endless winter.

The tornado monster touched down close to our besties Saffron and Sage.  But you know Miss Jackie would battle to the death any monster that threatened her babies.  Cute little Gracie Mae is also in that state but her Mom is still cracking bad jokes on the Human Book so she must be all right.
Nothing beats those tornado monsters away like bad humor.

And poor Chelsea and Ashton, they are suffering from the "midway through a Democratic Presidency someone sets Texas on fire" storms.  They can see and smell the fire but for now are safe.  

Smoochy got stuck in a basement like Otis as he protected his Mom from terrible weather and tornado monsters.  Sierra and Nase slept through their tornado warning but I don't think a tornado is any match for a blob.   And we can't forget Jen and her friends down in Brazil who was hit with massive flooding.

Storms just continue to churn around us and it is only April.  I hope the weather calms down but the tornado monsters seem to thrive in the summer so everyone get down in their basement and hold on, just like our pup of the week, Otis did.  Meanwhile Pocket and I will be holding on to a skirt and hoping for the best.

Saffron and Sage are our December 12, 2010 pups of the week

I thought we had an agreement with our humans.  We live with them as long as we can, then we go to the bridge and wait for their arrival.  Upon hearing the horrific news of Saffron's and Sage's Mom's diagnosis I sent Pocket to the Ladybug Law Library to procure a copy of this document.  It was stamped non-binding.  After a slip of the paw led to an hours long google search (I typed in non-bonding by mistakes.  Humans.  Really?  You have an interest in such pictures?) I realized that non-binding means we can't hold humans to the agreement.  What a gyp!

A special poem for Jackie

Oooh oooh oooh Jackie Pool
Don't give in to the rising gloom
Try to wear a smile when all you want to do is frown
Oh, Jackie, with the love of two great dogs you can't be down

Our hearts crumbled when we realized the same Big Bad C that took Freddy's and Sota's Mom Ms. Gina was now stalking Ms. Jackie.  Oh how we love Ms. Jackie.  She helped out our Mom without being asked, and never even asked for a thanks.  She has fought every illness that had attacked Sage and Saffron like a Mama Grizzly protecting her cubs.  Time, money, pain:  Nothing stood in the way of keeping her pups healthy, and there is nothing they wouldn't do to return the favor.

You live your life being the best possible Mom
Providing a happy and healthy hearth and home
There just doesn't seem to be enough words
To recount all the tales of your kindness we have heard


I have stopped trying to make sense of who gets their tickets stamped for the bridge, where and why.  On Tuesday Daddy told us a story about a 28 year old man named Tyrell.  His mother is one of his clients.  Daddy has known him since her was six years old.  He grew up surrounded by gangs, guns, and drugs.  He used to take a beating walking home from school for the crime of being educated.  But he never lost sight of his goal, to get out of the projects and have a real life.  Well, he did it.  Had a job, two kids, a wife, going to college, a place to live that wasn't supported by tax payers.  On Tuesday, while going home from work, while entering the highway, an 83 year old woman, exiting the highway, had a heart attack, lost consciousness, and slammed into the side of Tyrell's car, killing him.  When the police came to his Mom's house, asking vague questions about him, then returned to their car, she called Daddy to ask if she heard anything.  When the police returned she put down the phone and Daddy heard them give her the news of her sons passing.  Daddy said he could still hear her screams. Meanwhile, the drug dealers, the users, the schemers, his own age, who abuse their bodies and minds every day, continue to chug onward.

Ooo-hoo  Jackie Pool
You're a winner honey, you never lose
Ask the winners and you're going to find
They are just copying your kind

This whole sickness, death thing, it makes no sense.  It's random, it doesn't care who you are and what you have done.  It finds you and punishes you without rhyme or reason.  But sometimes I think it really targets the best of us.

Don't tell me that you're not aware
Of what you're going through and how much we care
We know it's not easy, not a natural thing
Like trying to play a song you can't sing

What can us pups do?  We did band together to bring the largest doggy site on the Internet to it's knees.  But this is much more difficult.  We can try to nose our parents into getting screened, but depending where your playground is it may be too far to get to the doctor, depending on how much insurance you have it could be too expensive, and sometimes there isn't enough time, or it just doesn't fit into where they are in their lives right now.


Ooh hoo Jackie Pool 
We're making wishes we pray come true
You've been places we've never been
We know you'll get to go there again


We can ask our parents to give money to cancer research groups.  My Mommy and Daddy give money to the Jimmy Fund and Dana Faber.  There are lots of wonderful organization out there.  But we also  know hard times have moved and don't intent to leave so money is tight, but a few dollars here or there can make a difference.

Ooh-hoo Jackie Pool\
We pray all your dreams come true
Our lives slip away like sand through your hand
Oh Jackie may it be many years before all your sand hits the land


But there isn't really anything we can do besides be Mom's best friend and pray for her.  We know Pocket is a doctor, but that's an honoree award.  Dogs can't really help with cancer.  Or can they?


Every day in your eyes
The sun never sets it will only rise
Moonlight and wine and pups some fine
For good friends two legged and four you have the time

Check out this link (while you're waiting Pocket and I will perform an awkward pause)  http://cbd.cancerdogs.co.uk/home.php.  (I lick my paws while Pocket stares at me.  She then begins to lick her va-jay-jay and I nudge her to make her stop.  I glare at her.  We look silently ahead for several moments.)  So what did you think.  Isn't that cool?

Ooh-hoo Jackie Pool\
She's so sweet, wonderful and cool
She has been given news that was quite bad
But we're going to try hard to make sure she's never sad

Dr Pocket could really be a Dr Pocket.  We could sniff you and let you know if something is wrong.  So all of us together, including us pups, can held defeat the Big Bad C if we put our mind to is and not see any other Moms or pups suffer again.

Our hearts and prayers go to you Saffron and Sage and most importantly your Mom.  We love her and every day we send healing vibes her way,.  Maybe someday we can do more.

Ooh Jackie Ooh Jackie
Ooh Jacke Ooh Jackie
Jackie we love you

Saffron is the Tanner Brigade Pup of the Week for December 6

Well Pocket and I firmly entrenched ourselves in opposite camps when deciding this week’s Pup of the Week. But, as always in disagreements within in the Brigade, I sought out, and received, the sage advice of Tanner Bub at the bridge and he solved our problems in his usual reasoned and fair manner.

I do understand that Pocket had several excellent reasons to dispute my candidate. First of all, he is not a member of the Brigade, although his family is, and the way I see it, if you have a family member in the Brigade, then you’re in the Brigade. Secondly, this pup is at the Bridge, and while you can certainly be the Pup of the Week at the Bridge, Pocket argued there was a more qualified member.

Well, I must admit, that I got myself into both a huff and a snit. I huffed and snitted around the house all day. That night I decided to seek out the sage advice of my friend Tanner. I downloaded myself up to the Bridge and the pups were so happy to see me: There was Teddy, and Sophie, and my old friends Blake, Copper and Jax, plus so many more. After a wild time of chasing Bridge bunnies made of rawhide, drinking ice cold water, and feasting on the Snausage trees, we sat down to talk.

I told Tanner about the pup at the Bridge who was my candidate and Tanner put a paw on my shoulder and told me he knew exactly whom I was talking about. He then gave a special howl and that black furred pup came bouncing over the hills. I introduced myself and he said he knew who I was, that his Mommy had told him about Pocket and I in her dreams. I then showed Tanner and this pup the wonderful tribute his Mom wrote about him. This dog cried and made me promise to tell his Mom how much he missed her and loved her and how sometimes during the day he sits in the sun and thinks about her.

I told Tanner how I wanted to make this dog my pup of the week but Pocket had another dog in mind. Tanner said that he had the perfect solution. He had recently been elected Mayor of the Bridge and he was using his power to make this dog “Rainbow Bridge Pup of the week.” So congratulations to Cali and Hurley’s big brother Sami, as he is the first “Rainbow Bridge Pup of the Week.”

Then I downloaded myself back home and woke up Pocket to tell her she was right. She had no idea what I meant and it took me several hours to explain the concept.

So, I admit, Pocket was right, and our Pup of the Week is very deserving. She had to go to the vet this week and have an operation, which is one of the worse possible things. First there’s the no eating, then the Mommy leaving us at the hospital, then the going asleep and waking up feeling all groggy with no Mommy in sight.

Then Mommy picks you up, and she’s happy to see you, but all worried, and you need to take care of her, even when you don’t feel well. Plus we all get worried and we spend two days praying for the Doctor to call up and say B-9.

And then guess what, the Doctor called up and said B-9 and we all yelled Bingo and danced and sang and had a huge party.

So, for being a brave pup in going to the Doctors; for putting up with all those humans at the hospital poking and prodding her; for being brave when she woke up without her Mommy there; for going home and taking good care of her Mom when she was so worried about her; and most of all for being our Bingo Dog and being B-9! Saffron is our Pup of the Week.

Congrats Saffron for being the Tanner Brigade Pup of the Week and for Sami for being the Rainbow Bridge Pup of the Week. You’re both fantastic! Long may you run.